19th time’s the charm: Canty, Auburn rally to upset No. 14 Kentucky

“I was so happy”, Calipari said.

“They can really confuse you on defense and they had us confused in the first half”, Mitchell said. “Last year, we beat West Virginia by a hundred (after the Mountaineers talked trash before an NCAA Tournament game)”.

Kentucky’s Jamal Murray made a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left and Canty missed two free throws to give Kentucky hope. Calipari said to the press after the game.

Junior forward Derek Willis had a career day for the Wildcats, coming off the bench for his first double-double with 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.

They easily got their biggest together Saturday. The Tigers (2-0, 1-0) entered the final set leading the Wildcats (1-1, 0-1) 147.525-146.275.

Before his absence was announced, Auburn’s student section had pre-made signs already done to mock the former coach that went a paltry 49-75 in four seasons with the Tigers program. The Wildcats, a game prior, turned in an impressive road win at Alabama. The Tigers used a 16-2 run to storm back from a 12-point deficit in the second half, which was Kentucky’s biggest blown lead of the season by a large margin. I’ll be honest, at that point I thought the game could be over. “I mean, they had a packed arena, those kids got down 12 and never stopped”. He had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Harris, though, has been doing much better over the last few games with this.

The Tigers took full advantage.

Auburn, though, is struggling offensively with a combined 34.7 field-goal percentage while shooting 11 for 45 (24.4 percent) from beyond the arc in its last two. Canty’s bank shot towards the end of the game to put Auburn up 2 points was the dagger in my mind. Sometimes we’ll stick just to Kentucky’s previous week, other times we’ll branch out to college basketball in general. Auburn’s most embarrassing loss was at #178 Missouri by 14. “Say let this guy play more”.

Auburn opened on vault with a total score of 49.200 led by senior Lexus Demers’ 9.900. Against Auburn, Kentucky wasn’t so fortunate, blowing a 12-point lead with 15:41 to go. Kentucky didn’t have a bad game, although it wasn’t their best either. “Just trying to play as well as we can”.

Tyler Ulis was a monster, again.

Tyler Ulis became the only player on the floor for Kentucky who was attempting to control the game.

The questions are legitimate, and the answers are not comforting for Big Blue Fans. Instead, Kareem Canty and other players made big plays both on the boards and at the free throw line to seal the 5 point victory. Kentucky fell to 12-4 and 3-2.

Cal was proud of Willis’ effort and ultimately, his performance may have been good enough to move him up in the rotation. However, the Cats have played very well in only two of those games, and poorly in the other two.